FEMI TAIWO
Femi has been on a mission of facilitating the transformation of individuals, organisations and nations primarily on the African continent for over a decade. He currently serves as the Executive Director of LEAP Africa- a leading youth-focused leadership development organisation that is working to inspire, enable, and equip youth to live fully, productively, and serve as change agents on the continent. In this role, he oversees the organization’s administration, fund-raising, strategy implementation, and programme delivery in six African countries.
Prior to this position at LEAP, Femi was the founding Executive Director of Eagles’ HOPE Foundation, a non-profit initiated by the Covenant University Alumni Association. In five years, he led the organisation to create and execute award-winning youth programmes that reached over 12,000 youth, across major cities in Nigeria and beyond. His career also included working with GlaxoSmithKline to implement development programmes for young physicians and pharmacists across Nigeria.
Femi is at the fore-front of youth-focused programming and policy on the African continent. He advises impact-focused organisations across various sectors on advancing the cause of young people in education, employment, entrepreneurship, active citizenship and achieving the SDGs. Femi speaks internationally on education and skills, youth empowerment and engagement, social entrepreneurship, the SDGs, and transformative leadership. He has provided technical support and thought leadership to a number of organisations including the African Union, MasterCard Foundation, British Council, Ford Foundation and Covenant University.
A 2018 Aspen Institute IdeasFest Scholar and member of the inaugural class of the Obama Africa Leaders Programme, Femi sits on the Board of United Nations Global Compact Nigeria and provides strategic support to a number of other non-profit organizations. He has won various awards for his work in youth leadership, including the Junior Achievement Youth Accelerator Award.